Fall Managed Care Forum 2014
The Fall Forum will be held November, 12-13, 2014 at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada for medical directors, nurses and administrators.

The Forum features up-to-date, useful information on the ACA and healthcare changes, trends and how to improve patient outcomes.

Click here to see the agenda, speakers, register and for more information on the conference.

The Fall Forum will feature the first Annual Innovation Awards for the NAMCP Medical Directors Institute, AAMCN and AAIHDS. If you are interested in applying for this award, please contact Katie Eads at keads@namcp.org or 804-527-1905 and we will send you an application.

A gene that makes you need less sleep?The New YorkerSince June, 1957, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been monitoring America’s health habits, tabulating things like whether we smoke, drink, or sit around all day, and how many of us visit our doctors regularly and take our medications at the prescribed times. Until recently, though, one aspect of our behavior largely escaped note: the amount of time we spend sleeping.

Hangovers are about half geneticLiveScienceSome people get hangovers after a night of drinking, while others don't, and the reason may be in their genes, a new study of twins in Australia suggests.
Researchers looked for links between the study participants' genetic makeups and the number of hangovers the individuals reported experiencing in the past year.

Tinkering with genes to prevent migrainesPsychCentalTwo new drugs in promising clinical trials use genetic engineering to prevent migraine headaches, the third most common and seventh most disabling medical disorder in the world.
Both use genetically engineered “monoclonal antibodies” attacking a new target in migraine prevention, a small protein known as the calcitonin gene-related peptide, or CGRP.

Facial recognition system improves malaria diagnosticsScience 2.0A method based on computer vision algorithms similar to those used in facial recognition systems combined with visualization of only the diagnostically most relevant areas can mean a big breakthrough in malaria diagnostics, according to a new paper. Tablet computers can be utilized in viewing the images.
In this new method, a thin layer of blood smeared on a microscope slide is first digitized.

3-D printing drugs: New technology to revolutionize medical industryRTScientists believe they have come up with a way to print drugs, using a 3-D printer. They say they can create a capsule, which can be swallowed, and it will also allow doctors to alter a dosage according to the specific requirements.
A team of researchers, from the Louisiana Tech University, believes they have come up with a solution to find a biodegradable material, which could be used to contain everyday drugs, as well as chemotherapeutic compounds for those needing cancer treatments.

Stem cell treatment presents challenges in neurologyBy Dr. Afsaneh Motamed-Khorasani In most neurologic conditions, injury to neural cells is followed by an immune response to the damage and consequential neurodegeneration. However, due to different genetic backgrounds, the disease manifestation could be different in each individual. Therefore, it would be ideal to design individualized therapy for each patient suffering the relevant signs and symptoms. But the eagerness of scientists and clinicians has been translated into a large number of premature clinical trials in human patients without the presence of enough basic knowledge.

Stem cell 'roadmap' brings analytics to tissue engineeringHealth IT AnalyticsAn online data analytics tool developed at Boston Children’s Hospital will allow stem cell researchers to check the quality and function of tissue samples engineered in laboratories. CellNet uses algorithms to match the genetic properties of engineered cells with those that originated in a natural human body to ensure that lab-grown liver samples contain the same biological properties as the real thing.

'Stiff person syndrome' treated by stem cell transplantLiveScience via Fox NewsPeople with a rare disease called stiff person syndrome, or SPS, might benefit from a type of stem cell transplant that has been used to treat patients with leukemia and multiple sclerosis, researchers say. SPS is a neurological condition that causes people to suffer from periodic muscle stiffness and spasms that make everyday activities like walking or driving a car extremely difficult.

Scientists recreate spinal, muscle and bone tissue with stem cellsNew York Daily NewsUsing stem cells, scientists have recreated the cells that form an embryo's spinal cord, muscle and bone tissue. This will help researchers further study embryonic development and possibly, one day, disease progression. Neuro-mesodermal progenitors — the particular cells that form the spinal cord, muscle and skeleton — begin their transformation once given the go-ahead by certain chemical signals in the body.

Understanding healthcare's top technology hazardForbesHave you ever stood in line at a fast food restaurant listening to a loud, persistent beeping from the kitchen’s deep fryer? If so, you’ve probably wanted to yell, “Hey, could somebody get the fries, or press a button to make that stupid dinging stop?” The employees, meanwhile, have long since stopped paying attention to the beeping, their brains having assigned it to the pile of unnecessary stimuli that is safe to ignore.

Will telemedicine help healthcare achieve the triple aim?EHR IntelligenceThe triple aim is the goal of current healthcare reform through the implementation and adoption of health information technology, but are healthcare organizations and providers overlooking the role of telemedicine in achieving this end?

Heart group calls on FDA to quickly regulate e-cigsUSA TodayElectronic cigarettes need to be strongly regulated — and quickly — to prevent another generation of young people from becoming addicted to nicotine, according to the American Heart Association's first policy statement on the products. In its statement, the heart association pointed to studies suggesting that e-cigarettes, which contain nicotine but no tobacco, could serve as a "gateway" drug to addict young people, who may go on to regular cigarettes or smokeless tobacco.

FDA okays Genzyme pill for Gaucher diseaseThe Boston GlobeFederal regulators approved for U.S. sale a Genzyme experimental capsule that could become the top-selling pill to treat the rare genetic disorder Gaucher disease.
Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug candidate, called Cerdelga, for adults with the most common type of Gaucher disease means the new pill could be on the market within a month.

A gene that makes you need less sleep?The New YorkerSince June, 1957, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been monitoring America’s health habits, tabulating things like whether we smoke, drink, or sit around all day, and how many of us visit our doctors regularly and take our medications at the prescribed times.

Health execs offer advice on leadership, ACOsFierceHealthcareIn one of the most dynamic eras ever for healthcare in the United States, many health executives wonder what skills they need to lead their organizations in general and accountable care organizations in particular. The most important part of a CEO's job is "making sure the culture of the organization supports the mission, vision and values and, accordingly, the strategic initiatives," Dennis Knox, CEO of Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, California, told Becker's Hospital Review.

ACOs lag in health IT, interoperability advancementsMedical EconomicsAccountable care organizations have made few strides in health information technology since early 2013, according to a recent survey from eHealth initiative. Most ACOs have yet to incorporate data beyond immediate clinical or claims-based records, and few are offering more advanced capabilities such as population health, revenue, or customer relationship management systems, according to the survey.

Obamacare's death of a thousand rate hikesForbesGet ready to pay more for health insurance next year, compliments of Obamacare. A new analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers projects that average premiums for policies sold through Obamacare’s exchanges will increase 7.5 percent in 2015. In nearly one-third of the 29 states that PwC investigated, premiums will rise by double digits. In Indiana, the average increase will be 15.4 percent. In Kansas, it’s 13.6 percent.

Health insurance reimbursement may determine cancer screening ratesNews-Medical.netA study published indicates that people living in American states that offer higher Medicaid payments for office visits are more likely to have been screened for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers than those in states giving lower levels of Medicaid support. Although the general requirements of the Medicaid health insurance programme are set by the federal government, each state individually decides its own Medicaid policies determining how much providers are paid for healthcare services and who is eligible for Medicaid.

This edition of the Genomics Biotech and Emerging Medical Technologies Institute eBrief was sent to ##Email##. To unsubscribe, click here. Did someone forward this edition to you? Subscribe here — it's free!